Overall history

Before European settlement, the area now known as Three Rivers was inhabited by the Mik’Maq peoples. They called themselves “Epegoitnag” and for them, the area was a wilderness with an abundance of wild game, as well as fruit, berries and wild nuts for gathering. They called their land SAMKOOK: ‘the land of the SANDY SHORE’ and the river systems were their highways and their source of a variety of fish.

The French began European settlement on the Island around 1603. In 1731, King Louis XV of France granted approximately 35,000 acres to the ‘Compagnie d’Est de l’Ile Saint Jean,’ in the Trois Rivieres (Three Rivers) area – which today is the general area bounded by the Cardigan, Brudenell and Montague Rivers, and near present day Georgetown. The top person in this new company was the determined Jean Pierre Roma. After receiving the grant, Roma made his headquarters at Brudenell Point. In 1745, Roma’s settlement was devastated by a British warship from New England. De Roma, his family, and his band fled on the trail he had made to St. Peters, and thus was able to get on a ship to Quebec.

Due to the British expulsion of the Acadians in Nova Scotia, a number of French settlers eventually came to the Island, with some settling in the Three Rivers area.

By the latter part of the 19th century, one could find various legal, medical, and financial services being offered. Other businesses included footwear manufacturing, harness making (for both horses and cattle), and the production of the well-known “Batchilder Chair.” Train service was established in 1872, providing a vital link in the transport of goods and services to and from the Three Rivers area.

The Three Rivers area has continued to prosper and grow since its early days, and now its diverse communities thrive in their own unique ways, from tourism, culture and arts, agriculture, environmental engineering, hospitality and more, which makes Three Rivers the dynamic, flourishing town that it is today.